


Close Friends

by sunset_oasis



Series: Rhythms of Love [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Divergence - Globet of Fire, M/M, The Yule Ball
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 16:29:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9132295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunset_oasis/pseuds/sunset_oasis
Summary: Draco and Blaise had always been close friends, would things change now as the 4th year evolved, Blaise getting annoyed at Draco's seemingly constant obsession over Potter, and the Yule Ball approaching?





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [therealjamespotter@tumblr](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=therealjamespotter%40tumblr).



> Written for the rarepairsecretsanta event on tumblr, gift for therealjamespotter.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

Draco and Blaise had always been close friends. Well, at least until the atmosphere between them started getting strange recently.

Draco wasn't sure why, but he could've sworn that Blaise had been avoiding him these past few weeks. It had been done pretty subtly in the typical Slytherin style so Draco didn't notice it immediately. Still, they had been friends for quite a few years so it didn't take him long to realize the unpleasant fact.

Blaise still replied to him when Draco directly initiated a talk, but nowadays he rarely started a conversation with Draco by himself. And whenever Draco did start a chat, Blaise seemed particular reserved and aloof. Draco knew that Blaise always seemed quite cool and emotionless from outsiders' eyes, but the other teen was generally more open and genuine with his close friends. Draco couldn't figure out why _he_ was suddenly being treated like that as well.

 

* * *

 

Care of Magical Creatures that day was just like usual – boring flobberworms and arguing with Potter. As the class ended and while they were on the way back to the castle, Draco continued complaining to Pansy and Blaise about how utterly irritating Potter was. Only after he got back to the Great Hall he realized that only Pansy was still by his side and Blaise had disappeared.

"Where's he gone?" Draco demanded.

"You mean Potter?" Pansy frowned at him.

"I mean Blaise," he rolled his eyes, thinking it should've been quite obvious.

Her eyebrows raised slightly as she gave him a gaze he couldn't really comprehend, "Didn't he just say he's going to meet up with Daphne to work on that potions essay before he left?"

Draco blinked at Pansy, thinking how the hell he could've missed this. Seeing his expression, she only shrugged, "Guess you were too busy ranting about Potter to notice."

Draco huffed in annoyance, then realized Pansy was still looking at him with that expression he couldn't comprehend. "What?"

She paused for a moment, and then said, "You know, you're quite annoying when you keep talking about Potter nonstop. Do you have a crush on him or something?"

Draco looked at Pansy as if she lost her mind, "I was complaining about him, not _praising_ him!"

She studied him for a moment and Draco widened his eyes after realizing that she'd actually considered this and wasn't just joking. "What – you can't have thought—"

"Evidence was pretty misleading, I'd say," she smirked. "I do see now that you're not interested in him though." He let out a sigh of relief, glad that she'd returned to her senses and to her normal self that understood him well and wouldn't make the mistake of assuming ridiculous things like him having a crush on Potter. "Still, you might consider cutting down that a little, because I'm tired of hearing about Potter all the time. We all are, to be honest."

He huffed, "Fine. Who're ' _we'_ , anyway?"

She tilted her head upwards at him before saying, "Everyone in the common room, of course." But somehow, Draco thought she seemed to be trying to tell him something else.

He had no idea what it was.

 

* * *

 

Draco felt some irritation and annoyance shot through him as he watched Blaise chat _animatedly_ with Tracey about Weird Sisters. So now Blaise was too busy chasing after girls to have time for his best friend, was it? Draco knew for one that Blaise wasn't even remotely interested in Weird Sisters. And honestly, he was fine with Blaise wooing some girl but he definitely didn't think it was necessary to neglect a best friend in progress!

Angrily, Draco turned his attention back to the 'Potter Stinks' badges he was making. The next time he looked up, Blaise was sitting _really_ closely to Theodore and that somehow made Draco accidentally messed up a badge he was enchanting in annoyance. When he bent down to pick up the wand, Draco missed Blaise looking over in his direction really quickly with a half-calculating, half-sneering expression, and when Draco got up again, Blaise was back to chatting with Theo.

Pansy raised an eyebrow as she watched on but said nothing.

 

* * *

 

It seemed that all everyone talked about was the Yule Ball as Christmas drew nearer and nearer. Gossips of who's taking who flew around the castle, and bets about the champions' dates were all over place.

"Cedric Diggory is taking Cho Chang," Pansy told them all one day in common room. "And Potter tried asking Chang out today with no luck."

"How do you know that?" Daphne asked interestedly, leaning in closer.

"I heard Padma Patil and Su Li talking about in Herbology," Pansy grinned.

"I'd love to see her rejecting him – takes that smug bastard down a few pegs," Draco smirked maliciously, feeling a gleeful about the famous, adored-by-everyone Potter getting rejected.

"Why don't _you_ ask Potter to the Ball, seeing as you're _always_ paying _so_ much attention to him?" Blaise's asked lazily, twirling a quill around in his hand. His tone was joking, but when his eyes were darkly dangerous as they met Draco's.

Before Draco could say anything, Millie also said, "Yeah, don't you have a crush on him or something? I heard you tried to climb a tree to impress him the other day."

"Me and Vince helped with that," Greg chimed in.

The others laughed and Draco could see that most of them were just joking about it, and some of them seemed to find this funny but also starting to contemplate if it might be true, but Blaise – Blaise's expression was cold and his smile was bitter.

"What about Krum?" Astoria asked, moving on to the next subject of discussion.

"I had no idea about that," Pansy replied Astoria but her eyes were focusing on Draco and Blaise, closely observing the tension between them.

As the others launched into another discussion speculating who Viktor Krum and Fleur Delacour might be going to the Ball with, Draco just stared at Blaise. But Blaise wasn't looking at him now, so Draco inevitably started noticing all the small details about Blaise's appearance such as his high, _beautiful_ cheekbones and his _perfect_ eyebrows and _flawless_ chocolate-dark skin –

Draco swallowed, hard.

 

* * *

 

"So you wanna go to the Ball together as friends?" Draco asked Pansy that weekend as they strolled along the lake.

She paused, and looked at him apologetically, "Sorry, Dray, but I've already got a date. Besides," she eyed him significantly, "it's not me you really want to go with, I think we both know."

Annoyed, Draco said, "If you bring up Potter again I swear I'll hex you on the spot—"

"Oooh, good line," she interrupted, "I need to memorize it so I can say it the next time you try to talk about Potter."

"I loathe you," he glared her.

Pansy only laughed merrily, "Love you too, darling."

"I pity whoever you're going with, having to put up with you," he muttered, "by the way, who is this guy that you tricked into going with you?"

She snorted, "I don't need to trick anyone, just because we're practically like siblings makes you oblivious to my stunning beauty doesn't mean everyone else is blind."

He rolled his eyes but his mood lightened up significantly after bantering with her. It wasn't until he got back to the dorm when he remembered she didn't say who she was going with, nor who she thought Draco would really want to go with.

 

* * *

 

When Astoria approached Draco about the Yule Ball, he was surprised but after hearing her story he agreed. She only wanted to go as friends and the boy she planned to go with was under fourth year like herself so they couldn't go together but need to go with some older student separately, but she would definitely dance with Draco first. He nodded in understanding and told her he was completely fine with that.

The next day he heard from Theo that Blaise was going with Daphne. While Draco knew that should be none of his business and there was nothing to be annoyed about, that still irritated him to no end for some reason.

 

* * *

 

After weeks of gossips flying around came the Yule Ball.

Draco had to admit he was pretty impressed when he saw Pansy on Viktor Krum's arm as the champions entered the Great Hall. He raised an eyebrow at her and she winked back and he chuckled fondly and gave her a thumbs-up.

He and Astoria danced to the first few songs and chatted about all sorts of stuff, occasionally commenting on the other people in the dancefloor. He saw one of the Weasley twins and a girl from the Gryffindor Quidditch team spun around like a tornado as everyone quickly moved out of their way. He saw Theo dancing with a blond-haired girl from Ravenclaw. He noticed that Potter and his date were not having the most pleasant time, though Ron Weasley and his date seemed to be even doing worse. He was surprised to find Granger with a guy with the Weasley trademark red hair but seemed to beyond Hogwarts age, then Draco recalled vaguely from first year that this must be the Weasley that worked with dragons and had come to Hogwarts to help with the first task.

After 4 songs, Astoria excused herself and went to find Colin Creevey. While Draco was a bit surprised that Astoria would be interested in a Gryffindor who was basically the president of Harry Potter's fanclub, he didn't comment on it.

"Have fun," he smiled at her, and she gave him back a relieved smile that seemed grateful that he didn't mind her dating a muggleborn.

After she left, Draco's eyes scanned around the hall and while deep down he knew who he was trying to find, he didn't really admit the truth to himself. But then, as his eyes landed on Daphne holding hands with Hannah Abbot, all the jigsaw pieces in his head started falling into the right places –

Then he saw Blaise standing near some elder Slytherins, a glass of drink in hand that looked suspiciously like firewhiskey. Their eyes met for a moment before one of the Weasley twins and the Johnson girl whirled past Draco, cutting short his staring. Before even realizing what he was doing, Draco started moving towards Blaise.

 

* * *

 

Blaise's slanting eyes narrowed a bit as Draco approached nearer, but he didn't move away. Instead, he just stood there as he took another sip from his glass.

Their eyes met again and Draco felt his throat was suddenly dry and he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind – "So, Daphne and Abbot, huh?"

Blaise's lips twitched for a moment before mimicking him, "So, Astoria and Creevey, _huh_?"

"They can't come together because both of them are only third years," Draco said, with an uncomfortable shrug.

"Hmm," Blaise replied noncommittedly, his voice carefully neutral.

"I didn't know Daphne likes girls," Draco said suddenly.

Blaise raised an eyebrow at him, "There are a lot of things you don't know." There seemed to be a 'such as …' that Blaise wanted to add at the end of the sentence, but he didn't continue.

"There are a lot of things you don't know as well," Draco shot back. He paused before continuing, "I want to tell you something."

Blaise's eyebrow climbed higher but he didn't say anything, merely made a gesture for Draco continue and picked up the glass of drink again.

"It's about Potter," Draco said, thinking about how he really needed to clarify to everyone that no, he wasn't interested in Potter in any sense whatsoever and he really couldn't get why everyone seemed to have the most absurd idea.

"Of course," Blaise sneered, his voice low and quiet. "Isn't it always?"

Draco closed his eyes and opened them again and snapped, "It's not what—"

"You said there are a lot things I don't know," Blaise cut across Draco coolly, "and that's true. And I'd hope to keep some of them this way, particular those about your crush on the Golden Boy."

"I don't have a crush on him," Draco said sharply, "that's what I want to tell you! Because you seemed to be thinking otherwise and I thought I should clear your misconceptions!"

Blaise merely raised a skeptical eyebrow at him, making Draco felt increasingly frustrated. He folded his arms across his chest defiantly and the two of them stared at each other and Draco could only think that it was super unfair that Blaise had to be so disturbingly good looking that it was hard not to be distracted by his handsomeness while being angry at him.

And then Blaise shrugged, "So you're straight after all. Seems I owe Theo 5 galleons."

"No. Stop jumping to conclusions," Draco said harshly, before grabbing Blaise's wrist to both of their surprise. "I, I–" Draco stammered when he realized what he did and letting go off it slower than he probably should.

For the first time that night, surprise replaced the suspicion on Blaise's face as their eyes met again, both trying to absorb all the underlying subtext of this conversation and what the other one was thinking.

Draco closed his eyes and took a deep breath before saying in a strained voice, as if admitting something he didn't particularly want to admit, "I – I don't like it when you lean too close to Theo or, or – wooing Tracey by chatting about The Weird Sisters—"

"And I don't like it when you climb a tree or makes badges or focus all your attention on Potter, or when you dance with Astoria for so long," Blaise replied, his voice equally tense.

A beat of silence.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Draco asked, his voice very quiet.

Blaise tilted his head slightly as he smirked, "I'd be ever so honoured to share thoughts with the high and mighty Slytherin Prince," and the tension between them seemed to suddenly evaporate with that smirk.

Draco's lips curved upwards slightly as he murmured, with some affection, "You're so sharp that you'll cut yourself one of these days." He hesitated. "Want to take a walk outside?"

Blaise gazed at Draco for a moment, then picked up Draco's hand, "Sure."

 

* * *

 

The sky was clear and the air was cold in a refreshing way as they sat down by the frozen lake. Draco was shuddering slightly from the low temperature but he was glad he could feel some of Blaise's warmth as he leant against the other boy.

"Hey," Draco said softly, his voice nearly a whisper, "you know I love you, right?"

"Do I?" Blaise hesitated before saying, "you know I love you too, right?"

"Do I?" Draco murmured.

Blaise didn't replied, but instead turned his body slightly to face Draco directly and leant towards him before pressing his lips on Draco's.

It was the warmest thing Draco felt that night.

 

* * *

Draco and Blaise had always been close friends.

And now they're more than that.


End file.
